Hold me, kid
by Theleopardlady
Summary: "Mr. Stark!" - It could not be! "Holy cow, you will not believe what's been going on!-" Started the sudden ramble, and finally Tony's eyes lifted up to meet the voice's owner. His eyes were in a daze- for he could almost not believe it. Right there in front of him stood... Peter Parker... [Extended version of Tony Stark's and Peter Parker's reunion on AVENGERS: ENDGAME]


**AN: Hi y'all!**

**So this is my first Avengers fanfic, and I'm gonna be honest... I am a HUGE Marvel geek! One of my most favorite things in the whole Marvel universe is actually the relationship between Tony Stark and Peter Parker. They have such an adorable father-son relationship that it makes my heart clench. And you can easily see it in the way that Tony talks and acts towards Peter and the other way around.**

**When I watched Endame I was utterly crushed, (who wouldn't be?!) and I decided that I wanted to write my own fanfic to heal the scar placed within my heart *sniffs*.**

**So, this small one-shot is of when Tony and Peter reunited. It happens kinda fast and we get switched off to another camera before we really get to see more than their hug. And I _know _that the two would not just separate and then run off to fight again like nothing had happened.**

**So here is the extended version of their reunion.**

**Enjoy!**

**o - o - o - o - o**

_Pain_. Aching pain was all that consumed Tony's back as he was thrusted harshly against the ground, metal clanging against gravel and dust. His eyes quickly darted upward meeting the alien-like beast, and the metal around his hand melted into a giant gun of repulsers. He began to fire off all he could at the monster, but his eyes could not help but shut tightly as he saw how it was ready to take a hit at him.

He waited...

But nothing? Not even the _slighest _source of pain? Was he already dead?

His thoughts were pulled back to reality as he felt somebody grabbing his arm and pulling him up on his feet with quite a strong force.

Tony was looking downward, head still spinning, but all of that changed when he heard _him_...

A small voice that he had missed- he had grieved of not hearing. And when he then at that moment- finally, after five years of pain and agony of its unrelenting silence, he heard it again.

"Mr. Stark!" _\- It could not be!_

"Holy cow, you will not believe what's been going on!-" Started the sudden ramble, and finally Tony's eyes lifted up to meet the voice's owner. His eyes were in a daze- for he could almost not believe it. Right there in front of him stood... _Peter Parker_...

"-do you remember when we were in space?" Continued Peter's ramble, but Tony heard nothing of what he was saying- he was in his own daze looking at the kid, almost feeling as if it was all a dream. For 5 years he had silently been grieving and feeling guilty to _no end_. The words he had spoken to Peter after the ferry incident still ringing in his ears.

_"And if you die, I feel like that's on me."_

And Tony meant it, but never had he thought that the pain was to ever occur in his heart.

"And I got all dusty?" Continued Peter's rambling. "And I must have passed out, beacuse I woke up and you were gone-"

Tony had to fight each and every urge within his body not to break down right then and there. He felt tears filling his eyes, but he did not dare to shed them. He _couldn't_. He needed to stay strong.

_"Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good."_ \- Peter's words rung inside his skull like a swarm of buzzing bees, stinging each part of him from his insides ever so painfully- swelling up and making his stomach flip inside of him. The way that Peter had pleaded for him, to get him to stay there- for him not to go- was unlike any agony Tony had ever before been in. He was so speechless, so heartbroken at that moment that he could not get any words to roll off his tongue. He could only watch, and hold his kid for as long as he needed. _For as long as he remained. _

But Peter was back, and he was alive!- right there in front of him!

Knowing that Tony was not going to keep it together for any longer he finally gave into his feelings and slowly moved towards the kid.

"- but Doctor Strange was there, right? And he was like, "It's been five years, come on they need us!"- and then he started doing that yellow-sparkly thing that he does all the time and-" But Peter was cut short by a wrecked Tony Stark who moved towards him and slung his arms around the teenager as he whispered in a desperate plead, "Hold me, kid. _Hold me_." And then he wrapped his arms as tightly as he could around the boy, pulling him ever so close to his chest, never daring to let go.

Peter felt his breath sharpen in utter shock as he felt the warm embarce of his mentor coiling around him, and he could not help but ask softly, "What are you doing?" But he did not even hesitate for one second to return the gesture, arms wrapping around Tony's shoulders and holding him tight, as a comfortable sigh left his lips.

Tony looked upward, eyes drifting past the fogging dust that swirled above him- his eyes searched for the heavens. For he thanked the heavens in that moment, thanked them for bringing his kid back to him. He was here, right in his embrace after 5 years. After 5 years he was with him again. Memories of him and the kid began to sour through his mind, and he could not help but smile in disbelief at all that had changed over all these years.

From the first time they had met each other:

_"You're the Spiderling. Chrime-fighting spider. You're Spider-boy?"_

_"S- Spider-Man."_

_"Not in that onsie your not."_

_"It's not a onsie."_

When the kid had surprised him with all of his guts and wisdom:

_"When you can do the things that I can, but you don't. And then the bad things happen...They happen because of you..."_

With his stubbornness, oh god, how Tony could recall:

_"Speaking of loyalty..."_

_"What the..."_

_"I know what you're gonna say-"_

_"You should not be here."_

_"I was gonna go home-"_

_"I don't wanna hear it."_

_"But it was such a long way down I just thought about-"_

_"And now I gotta hear it."_

But all cards on the table Tony had missed nothing more than Peter's constant bickering or his so-called word vomiting, and all of his stupid pop-culture references. _God_, five years without all of that had drained a part of Tony's heart which he had no idea was even there. Oh, how he had missed his kid.

With that thought in mind, Tony wrapped his arms even tighter around the small spider in his arms, and he closed his eyes, finally allowing a tear of utter happiness to trickle down his cheek.

"_Oh_, this is nice." Breathed Peter still buried in Iron Man's shoulder ever so tightly.

After what seemed like an infinity, but was rather just a minute, the two finally pulled apart. Tony could not help but run a shaky hand over Peter's face- he was there. He was full- nothing of dust or ashes.

_He was there with him._

Peter was obviously confused as to why his beloved mentor acted the way he did- for not even a second ago he had been in his arms begging for him to not let him go. It was nothing more than a few seconds of being away from him- minutes tops! So why was Tony acting like so?

"Y- you're here." The older man clarified voice slightly shaking as he still held Peter by his shoulders- still not daring to let go of him- almost as if he was afraid that he would turn back into dust. "I can't believe you're here."

Peter raised a confused brow as he spoke softly, "Yeah? Where else would I be?"

That was when Tony realized that Peter probably only had experienced the snap as a blackout- for he instantly realized that the kid had _definitely _not aged a day since the last time that he had seen him.

Tony could not help but smile softly, and then pull his kid into another tight embrace as he spoke, voice muffled by Peter's hair as his face was buried into it, "Nowhere, Pete. Absolutely nowhere."

Peter smiled against his mentor's chest, but could not help but think back to one of the last years previous events, and then he asked shakily, "I thought we weren't there yet?"

But at the sound of his small voice, Tony only pulled him tighter against his chest, and Peter turned more shocked than ever before, as he then heard the man's reply.

"We've always been."

As the sound of battle cries were heard around them, the two opened their eyes in realization, finally snapping back to their real world. The two pulled apart, (each one having a difficult time doing so) and then turned to look down sheepishly as they heard Rhodey yell beside them, just having fought off an alien, "Hey, can you wait with the touching parent-kid reunion till after we've defeated this guy?" The man's voice was dripping with sarcasm as he spoke.

Peter instantly knew that Tony was normally very much against comparisons like these, so he quickly sputtered, "Mr. Rhodes, we're not-" But surprisingly was he cut off by the man beside him who said in a reasoning yet annoyed tone dedicated towards his best friend, "Shut up, Rhodey. I haven't seen my kid for 5 years, aren't we allowed to catch up for just a minute?"

Several statements surprised Peter at that moment. The fact that Tony Stark_,_ his life long Idol and hero, plus mentor- had called him _his _kid. Another was that the man had said 5 years, which instantly made the teenager understand, swallowing hard as he thought with guilt how it all made sense why Tony had been so desperate to touch him- see him- speak to him.

_He had been gone for 5 years._

Tony had honestly not even thought his words through, and that _damn _small word "my" had just slipped right off his tongue. Before he had any chance of denying it though, Rhodey snorted halfheartedly, almost softly- knowing how broken the billionaire had been after the time he had returned from the space ship all of those years ago, the first thing he said being, _"I lost the kid."_ And it was clear how great of a heartbreak it was for him. Everyone knew it was.

"Yeah well, get you're cuddling set for later, we still need to defeat the giant grape." Said Rhodey and then flew off.

Tony and Peter gave each other a soft smile and then the older man patted the younger's shoulder gently. "Be careful out there, Pete." And inside his head a voice whispered, _"I can't lose you again."_

Peter smiled softly at his mentor, as he replied. "You too, Mr. Stark." And then both of their masks slipped back on. But before either could run off into battle, Tony turned around and said hesitantly, "You know, after we've won, which I _know _we will, you should come by our house. I have someone there I think you would like to meet." Tony felt himself smiling underneath his helmet at the thought of both children being together... Like siblings perhaps. "And maybe... If you're up for it..." Stark hesitated for a moment, but then choked out as confidently as he could, "Finally show me those Star Wars movies that you can't seem to shut your babbling mouth up about."

Peter could not contain the wide ear splitting smile that was stretching underneath his mask. "Y- yeah, Mr. Stark," Said the teenager, trying to contain the excitement in his voice as much as possible. "That sounds great."

Tony possibly had just as big of a smile hiding behind his mask, but it was not something Peter would have quessed and never would he know.

Finally starting up his blasters he only took one glance behind him and said in a voice more sincere and love-filled than he had ever before, "You have no idea how much I missed ya, kid." And then he fired into the sky, leaving behind a dumb struck, yet beaming Peter Parker.

All the final thoughts settled into Tony in that moment. How greatful he actually was for Peter- no emotion could describe how greatful he was for having found Peter. If it was not for that geeky, polite and passionate teenager, Tony never would have had Morgan. Peter showed a different side of Tony that no one else had seen before, and when he had lost his kid to the snap all those years ago, and Peter dissapeared, he took a part of Tony's heart with him. And that part, even though it was never replaced, it was slightly better tolerated as he had gotten Morgan. She was the only light in his world that Tony had left, that didn't keep him from being swallowed in darkness after Peter's death.

Even though Tony knew that traveling back in time might cause trouble, and him maybe even risking his daughter's existence, was a risk he had to take, if it meant that he could get his other kid back. Have both of them. Then all would be good- all would be perfect.

At that moment Tony knew that if he was willing to travel back in time, meaning that it was going to risk the life of another he loved, just so that he could get his kid back- it meant that there was nothing else in this world that he would not do for them. His daughter Morgan, and his son... Peter Parker.

So taking a deep breath he could be calm, for he knew that in that moment, that all he had ever done was worth it. And all that he was ever _going _to do, would be worth it. And if he could be there alive, knowing that both of his kids were safe, it would all be worth it...

Even if it was just for a moment.


End file.
